Activision sued over dereliction of duty

Posted March 4, 2010 - 11:41
by
Trent Nouveau

The creators of the Call of Duty (CoD) franchise have sued Activision over an unceremonious breach of contract and wrongful termination.

According to Bloomberg, Jason West and Vince Zampella - who co-founded Activision’s Infinity Ward studio - recently filed a suit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking $36 million in damages and demanding control over the Modern Warfare franchise.

The two also alleged that Activision had concocted "false" insubordination charges to avoid paying hefty royalties.

"Activision terminated their employment weeks before they were to be paid substantial royalty payments as part of their existing contracts for ‘Modern Warfare 2,’" West and Zampella’s lawyers claimed in an official statement.

Meanwhile, a post-purge Activision has confirmed plans to create a dedicated business unit for Call of Duty to "bring together [the company's] various new brand initiatives with focused, dedicated resources around the world."

The new unit will reportedly ensure that one new Call of Duty title is released every year. Future titles will be created by the newly-formed Sledgehammer Games studio.

The Call of Duty franchise is one of the most profitable in the industry. The most recent installment, Modern Warfare 2, sold six million units in its launch month last November, outselling all of the other top-10 games that month, combined.